members. i know as a former member of the school board -- jane kim as well -- they serve our communities well. one thing that mayor ed lee brought up, for me, personally, lunar new year was a time to get together with family. i remember my grandmother cooking all of the great new year food. it brought us together but it was also an opportunity to share our culture with others, bring more unity among all of our communities. half the lunar new year to everyone and let's unite our communities together. thank you. [applause] >> good evening, my name is carmen chu. i will keep my message brief. i want to wish everyone a happy lunar new year. again, this is a time that is important to many of merit -- asian-american families because of the importance of bringing together family. i think we can all replicate this, the matter what community

we live in. so i want to say happy new year. [speaking chinese] [applause] >> good evening. [speaking korean] in the new year, may have much good luck and fortune. new year's was a time for my family to get together and build community but also to reflect on the previous year, what challenges lie ahead of us. today at the board of supervisors, we recognized black history month. for me, that is always a reflection of the work of people that have come before us so that we can be where we are today. as asian americans, we think and

appreciate the work of african- americans in advancing our civil-rights as asian-americans in this country. as we look toward the new year, i think we can say that the asian-american community has come far in san francisco since we first started immigrating here in the 1950's, and there were many challenges for our community, beginning with the first exclusion act, immigration and for men and women that came for san francisco, to labor issues, and also segregation that we faced. and that was then brought forward as a court case to look at what it means to be equal but separate in our public schools. there is much work we have done here, and now we see we have our first asian-american mayor, the first time we have seen four asian american sitting on the board of supervisors. it is certainly an honor and privilege for me to be here today. i want to recognize the history not only of our communities, but

of many communities that have fought for us to be here today. again, happy new year. thank you for being here and joining in on the celebration. [applause] >> thank you, supervisors. assessor phil ting plays a crucial role in our city. his office is responsible for calling on all of us to pay our property taxes. maybe not so popular, but we like him. [laughter] his office makes sure that the revenue is here for the city budget. without further ado, please welcome city assessor phil ting. >> thank you. i am usually not popular with everyone else, but with other city officials, i am very popular. come budget time, they come

calling. welcome to city hall. happy new year, everybody. it is an honor to see all of you here. it is a reminder for all of us as public servants that we are here to serve you. the day we opened city hall to all of you -- it is quite an honor to see all of you here celebrating with us. it is a reminder of how we have to constantly keep city hall opened, not just for the folks that have access, but for those that do not. it has been a struggle. as my colleagues have talked about, it has been a struggle for the community. and it is not over yet. we have some high hurdles to face, serious budget issues coming up this coming year. we have a lot of strong economic issues, moving forward, but i know that you know that all of us are working hard every day to

solve those problems. again, happy new year. [[s speaking chinese] happy new year, everybody. [applause] >> thank you, phil. i know the general counsel is here. would you like to say a few words now? [applause] >> [speaking chinese] [applause] dear friends, ladies and

gentlemen, is truly a privilege and honor to join you tonight to celebrate the chinese lunar new year. it is so amazing to see so many friends, not only of chinese americans, but also asian americans, friends from the mainstream, to celebrate this important holiday. as we know, chinese new year is the longest and most important celebration in the chinese calendar. it is a time for family reunion, a time to reaffirm the value of friendship. it is also a time to reflect on the past, while looking forward with renewed hope, to the fresh start of a new year. the year 2010 is very important to remember. last year, the relationship between china and the united states of america has achieved

new progress. people to people contacts and exchanges between our two countries grow rapidly. last year, 3 million visited each other. 1 million from china, 2 million from the united states of america. we see our mutual friendship enhanced, our cooperation consolidated and expanded. especially, our bilateral trade reached a new record of $385.3 billion. 29.3% more than the previous year. that is 150 times more than 32 years ago, when china and america established diplomatic relations. and the state of california maintains its leading position in exports to china.

in the fourth quarter of last year, california exported x 0.8 billion u.s. dollars to china, which is 28% more than the same period of last year. 35% is from the bay area. the year 2010 is also a very remarkable in the relationship between china and san francisco. last year, shanghai and san francisco celebrated the city's anniversary of the sister city relationship. three mayors of this city led a large delegation to shanghai and inaugurated the grand opening of the san francisco post at the world expo. they open their second office in beijing. last year, we maintained

frequent exchanges and close cooperation and achieved new, substantial results. in the context of the new year, you have already had a promising beginning. as you know, one month ago, chinese president hu jintao paid a visit to this country and held productive talks with president obama. both our leaders declared their commitment to building a cooperative the partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefits. his visit is important and will surely give new impetus to the overall development of our bilateral relations. in all 50 states, the state of california and san francisco, in particular, will benefit from this. this year is also a remarkable

year for san francisco. for the first time in its 162- year history, you have and we have four asian american supervisors. and the first time in history, we have a chinese-american mayor. it is not only, i think, a recognition of asian americans, chinese americans, but of the contribution to the overall development to the city, and also, a vivid expression of the cultural makeup of san francisco which made the city so dynamic, strong and beautiful. ladies and gentlemen, the chinese counsel stands ready to work with you in the future to

work and make san francisco -- as mere ly said -- the best gateway to china. i thank you for your attention and i wish everyone a very happy and healthy new year and a most enjoyable evening. to represent my best wishes, i have a proclamation to present to mayor ed lee. [applause]

>> don't drop it, ed.

>> thank you so much, general counsel. all of you are invited to a reception after the conclusion of this program. this event could not have happened without our sponsor this evening, at&t. i want to welcome the regional vice-president mark blackman. >> happy new year of the rabbit. i wish you much prosperity and good health. at&t is happy to be a part of this rich and beautiful tapestry of the city. as a new resident -- i just relocated this summer. one of the first people i met when i arrive this summer was then-city administrator ed lee.

i am so grateful to now be celebrating with you with our first chinese-american mayor in my new home of san francisco. thank you so much for letting us be a part of this wonderful evening. we wish you a happy new year and please enjoy the events afterwards. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, mark. thank you to at&t. we have many officials joining us for the celebrations this evening. i see supervisor david campos is with us. [applause] supervisor ross mirkarimi. [applause] and supervisor malia cohen. [applause] where is supervisor scott wiener? [applause] thank you for being here. we have our district attorney mr. gascon.

public defender jeff a adachi. and our fire chief, joanne as white. [applause] acting city administrator, amy brown. [applause] port director monique moyer is with us. [applause] and from senator mark lino's office, susan slim. [applause] from assemblyman tom ammiano's office. thank you for joining us in the celebration. we will have the final performance of the evening from the chinese american international school. they helped to start this celebration earlier this evening. i do not know if all of us were

here but they are now returning. they will be performing for us and the beautiful traditions of the chinese new year, the alliance stance. please welcome students from the chinese american international school. -- the lion's dance. -- the lion's dance. [applause]

[applause]

[applause]

>> [inaudible] [applause] this is really a unique performance. before we end tonight's program, i want to, on behalf of the city, thank at&t again for your generous sponsorship, making the celebration happening. we would liked everyone to join us for the reception. we want to thank owner of

moonstar. we want to thank you for your contribution. [speaking foreign language] >> thank you.

>> so it's a tremendous honor to be here today. we've got a tremendous program for you. this is our annual black history month kickoff. it was started many, many years ago. dr. carter g. woodson had

participated in the founding of black history month. he was involved in the group known as the oh, -- association for the study of african-american life and history. the local chapter of that group is what is now known as the african-american cultural and historical society. so it's an honor. we've been doing this for many, many years and it's great to see so many faces out here today. right now what i'd like to do is thank our partners and acknowledge them for their participateation. the san francisco public library much the california cultural arts program and we couldn't do it without the good folks in the mayor's office of neighborhood services. what i'd like to do now is strue -- shall truce -- intro

duce tanish hollins from the mayor's office of neighborhood services. >> good amp, family. happy black history month. could we hear it one more time? [applause] >> we are so honored to be here. we look forward to this every year. it's a hall mark event for the city and county of san francisco. an opportunity to reflect on the many, many contributions of african-americans in this city and how each of us has changed the gee graval and cultural landscape of this city. how fitting that we celebrate black history month today, which is also the same as lunar new year and also an opportunity -- opportunity to reflect on the diversity of this city and how happy we are to be in a city which is so inclussive. so without forth delay i would like to welcome you on behalf

of mator's office of neighborhood services. mayor lee will be joining us later. with the invocations, we would like to invite pastor stacey kerns. >> good amp. let us pause for a moment to invite the presence of god. shall we pray together? god, our help in ages past, our hope in years to come, we invite your holy presence to bless this celebration of african-american history month. we give up thanks and praise for the legacy, the creativity, the genius and contributions of african-american people everywhere. we pray that you would strengthen this organization and strengthen all organizations that support telling the story of black history. and so today we ask that as we continue on the journey. that we might be able to do